David M. Rubenstein, National Jury Chair
Co-Founder and Co-CEO, The Carlyle Group
District of Columbia
David Rubenstein is a Co-Founder and Co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, founded in 1987. Mr. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Duke University, and the Library of Congress Madison Council, a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, Co-Chairman of the Brookings Institution, Vice-Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and President of the Economic Club of Washington. Rubenstein is on the Boards of Trustees of the University of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art, the Institute for Advanced Study, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Johns Hopkins Medicine. He is a member of the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors and the Harvard Global Advisory Council (Chairman).
Dawn Arnall, National Jury Vice Chair
Chair, SBP Capital Corporation
Aspen, Colorado
Dawn Arnall is a private investor, businesswoman and philanthropist. She currently serves as Chair of SBP Capital Corporation. A seasoned executive with more than two decades of professional experience in the financial services and real estate industries, Dawn is an active investor in energy, insurance and technology sectors. Dawn is a Director on the Board of Conservation International, a member of the Smithsonian National Zoological Advisory Board, a Trustee of The College of William and Mary Foundation Board, and former Chair of National Geographic’s International Council of Advisors. She also is a member of the George W. Bush Institute's Woman's Advisory board, serves on the executive committee of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and is a supporter of Shalva, a therapy center for mentally and physically challenged children. Dawn obtained her BA and MBA from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She resides in Aspen, Colorado.
Jay Abbe
Retired President/COO, JDS Uniphase
Healdsburg, California
Jay and his wife, Karen, reside on their ranch and vineyards outside of Healdsburg, California, 70 miles north of San Francisco, where they grow grapes and produce a modest amount of wine. Jay is a retired technology business executive, having served as Chief Executive Officer of Optical Coating Laboratory in the late 1990s and President and Chief Operating Officer of JDS Uniphase, a fiber optics company, until his retirement in 2001. Prior to his operating roles, Jay also served for 18 years as a management consultant and senior partner with McKinsey & Company. Currently, he remains active as a director of several public companies, a trustee of his independent secondary school in Pennsylvania, and several local community organizations in Sonoma County. Since 2009, Jay has served on the board of American Prairie Reserve, an organization that is creating the largest nature reserve in the continental United States. Having grown up outside of Philadelphia in a very East Coast family, where “the West” meant Ohio, Jay connected strongly to Montana during a summer job in 1961 working on the Minuteman missile complex in the central part of the state.
Barbara Barrett
Owner, Triple Creek Guest Ranch – Montana
Paradise Valley, Arizona
Barbara Barrett is Ambassador, Astronaut, Aviator, Attorney and Academic President. She and her husband own Triple Creek Guest Ranch in Montana, twice ranked the #1 hotel in the world. Triple Creek Ranch is home to several hundred head of American Bison that roam the ranch’s 26,000 acres of grassland and forest. Barbara serves on the governing boards of RAND, Caltech, the Smithsonian, Lasker Foundation and The Aerospace Corporation, of which she is Chairman. Barbara was Interim President of Thunderbird School of Global Management, Ambassador to Finland, CEO of the American Management Association and a fellow teaching leadership at Harvard. She was FAA Deputy Administrator and Civil Aeronautics Board Vice Chairman. An instrument-rated pilot, Barbara trained in Russia and Kazakhstan, culminating in certification for space flight.
Tricia Besing
Community Volunteer
Dallas, Texas
Tricia Besing is a devoted philanthropist and an excited National Jury member. She is active with the Tiffany Circle of the American Red Cross, and has helped grow the Dallas chapter alongside her mother who is a founding member of the Tiffany Circle. She is involved in various philanthropic efforts, including A.W.A.R.E. (Alzheimer’s Women’s Association for Resources and Education), Crystal Charity Ball (supporting Dallas children’s charities) and KIPP (a nonprofit network of college preparatory, public charter schools serving elementary, middle, and high school students). She and her husband, Gil, own a small hotel in Harbour Island, Bahamas, and have been blessed to know and empower the community there. Tricia and Gil currently reside in Dallas, Texas and have two children, ages 28 and 25. They love spending time in Whitefish, Montana and are passionate about the outdoors and preserving our natural resources.
Michael R. Bonsignore
Retired Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Honeywell International Inc.
Santa Barbara, California
Michael Bonsingore is the retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell International. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has served on the boards of many companies including Medtronic, Donaldson Company, Cargill, St. Paul companies, Pricelock and Healthsense. Mr. Bonsignore has served as a National Geographic Society Trustee since 2004 and is a member of NGS International Council of Advisors. He is former Chairman of the U.S./China Business Council and former Member of Business Roundtable. He served on the Executive Advisory Board of the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management, and as a board member of the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, the Minnesota Orchestra (trustee emeritus), Global Leadership Development Board, and Alliance to Save Energy. He is a current member of SeaSpace Symposium. Mr. Bonsignore and his wife Sheila divide their time between Seattle, Washington, New York City and Santa Barbara, California. His interests include boating, fly-fishing, underwater photography and collecting Northwest Coast contemporary art. He is the owner of the Stonington Gallery in Seattle, Washington.
David Coulter
Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Advisor, Warburg Pincus
New York, New York
Coulter served as Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Advisor at Warburg Pincus, focusing on the firm’s financial services practice from 2005-2014. Mr. Coulter retired in September 2005 as vice chairman of J.P. Morgan & Chase Co. He previously served as Executive Chairman of its investment bank, asset and wealth management, and private equity business. Mr. Coulter was a member of the firm’s three-person Office of the Chairman and also its executive committee. Mr. Coulter came to J.P. Morgan Chase via its July 2000 acquisition of The Beacon Group, a small merchant banking operation. Before joining The Beacon Group, Mr. Coulter was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the BankAmerica Corporation and Bank of America NT & SA. His career at Bank of America was from 1976 to 1998 and covered a wide range of banking activities. He served on the board Aeolus Re, MBIA, Webster Bank, Sterling Financial and the Strayer Corporation. He currently is on the board of Santander Asset Management. He also serves on the boards of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Asia Society of Northern California and the Foreign Policy Association. He received both his BS and his MS from Carnegie Mellon University and currently serves as a Trustee for Carnegie Mellon.
Steven Cousins
Partner, Armstrong Teasdale, LLP
St. Louis, Missouri
Steven N. Cousins is a partner at Armstrong Teasdale, LLP, a 250-person law firm with offices throughout the U.S. and in Shanghai China. Mr. Cousins became Armstrong Teasdale’s first African American lawyer when he joined the firm in 1980. Four years later, he founded and chaired the firm’s first financial restructuring, reorganization and bankruptcy practice – the first associate to start a department at Armstrong Teasdale. In 1987, he became the firm’s first African American partner and one of the few in St. Louis. He served on the firm’s executive committee for 15 years and has been one of Armstrong Teasdale’s top rainmakers for twice that long. He has represented global corporate clients such as Peabody Energy and Payless Shoes and high profile clients throughout the country, including a former U.S. Cabinet Member who was vindicated in a Justice Department investigation. He has been listed for 24 years in The Best Lawyers in America, named as a Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyer, and listed in Black Enterprise Magazine as one of the country’s top five bankruptcy lawyers. He is the 2017 recipient of the Martin J. Purcell award from the Missouri Bar Foundation. The award acknowledges an outstanding lawyer that has demonstrated an exceptional degree of competency, integrity, and civility in both professionalism and civic activities. Mr. Cousins received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1980 and BA from Yale University in 1977. An active community leader, Mr. Cousins was the general counsel and currently serves on the executive committee of the St. Louis Regional Chamber of Commerce, vice-chairman of St. Louis Children’s Hospital board and is a St. Louis Art Museum trustee. In addition, he is outside general counsel for Concordance, a path-breaking program to reduce recidivism in St. Louis and beyond. He also serves on Washington University’s National Council of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement. He served as the initial co-chair of the St. Louis Internship Program, an inner-city youth jobs program, replicated in 38 cities with more than 3,300 alumni. In addition, Mr. Cousins is a co-founder of the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation, served as a member of the University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor’s Council and the national Board of Governors of the Association of Yale Alumni, and was a Webster University trustee.
Catherine Debs
Palo Alto, California
Steven A. Denning
Chairman, General Atlantic LLC
Greenwich, Connecticut
Steven A. Denning is the Chairman of General Atlantic LLC, a global private equity firm. He joined the firm in 1980 and has built the organization into a leading global growth investment firm with twelve offices around the globe and over $20 billion of assets under management. He is actively involved in a number of private companies, and is also a director of Engility Corp. (NYSE:EGL). Mr. Denning joined GA after working with McKinsey & Company. He received an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1978. Prior to business school, Mr. Denning served for six years in the U.S. Navy, where he also earned an MS degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He received a BS from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1970. Mr. Denning is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University and former Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). He remains on the board of TNC, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bridgespan Group. He is an Honorary Trustee of The Brookings Institution and the American Museum of Natural History, Emeritus Chairman of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Board and an Emeritus Trustee of the National Parks Conservation Association. Mr. Denning was formerly a member of the board of the McKinsey Investment Office Advisory Council, the Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut Science Center, the Georgia Tech Advisory Board, the Georgia Tech Foundation Inc., and the Cancer Research Institute. Mr. Denning grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. He and his wife, Roberta, currently reside in Greenwich, CT, and San Francisco, CA. They have two children, Robert and Carrie.
Eric Dillon
Chief Investment Officer and Founder, Silver Creek
Seattle, Washington
Silver Creek is an alternative investment advisory firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Eric Dillon is Silver Creek’s Chief Investment Officer and Founder. Mr. Dillon is the Chair of the Investment Committee, which is responsible for all investment research activities, portfolio management and portfolio risk management. In conjunction with these responsibilities, Mr. Dillon sits on numerous advisory boards of Silver Creek portfolio investments. Mr. Dillon has been involved in the investment industry since 1982 when he started his career as a stockbroker at Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he became a Senior Vice President. Mr. Dillon continued his investment career with Salomon Smith Barney, where he evaluated and monitored investment advisory firms for institutional and private investors. Mr. Dillon launched his first fund of hedge fund product offering, Dillon/Flaherty Market Neutral Fund, L.P. (now known as DFP Fund, L.P.) in 1994 while he was an employee of Smith Barney. Mr. Dillon has experience in various private business transactions, including being a founding investor and advisory board member of Amazon.com, AQuantive (later sold to Microsoft), and Wizards of the Coast. In addition to his background in investments, Mr. Dillon is on the board of the Nature Conservancy of Idaho and also owns several ranches in Central Montana that are focused on creating sustainable agriculture and ranching models which are consistent with wildlife management.
Aaron Enrico
Founder and Managing Partner, Black Bear Partners
Dallas, Texas
Aaron is the Founder and Managing Partner of Black Bear Partners, a growth capital investment firm located in Dallas, Texas. He has had a broad and expansive career in principal investing, marketing and strategy consulting, and general management. Aaron was most recently the Chief Financial & Development Officer for Genesco Sports Enterprises, Inc., a sports marketing and consulting firm based in Dallas and with offices in Charlotte, Chicago and New York. Aaron served as a Principal with CIC Advantage Holdings LLC (CIC Partners LP), with a particular investment focus on restaurant, retail, consumer packaged goods and media. Aaron started his career with McKinsey & Company, and also served in marketing and management capacities with the sports marketing conglomerate International Management Group (IMG) and the U.S. Olympic Committee. Aaron currently serves as a Director of Bitty Foods, Force of Nature Enterprises, Hail Merry Inc., Seven Mile Suites Ltd. (Comfort Suites Grand Cayman) and Wolf Manufacturing, and as a Board Member of Ecologic Brands, Inc., and formerly sat on the boards of giggle, MosquitoNix, Red Mango and Signstorey (CBS Outernet). In addition, he has served in various advisor and board capacities with the Greenhill School, Duke University Annual Fund Executive Committee, Duke University Innovation & Entrepreneurship Board of Advisors, the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas and the AFI Dallas International Film Festival. Aaron received his BA in History and Comparative Area Studies from Duke University and his MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. He lives in Dallas with his wife and their three children.
Lynn Friess
Executive, Friess Associates Inc. (Retired 11/2010)
Jackson, Wyoming
Growing up in a farming community in upstate New York, Lynn received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin. With her husband, she helped build a family business and raise four children. Names as one of the Outstanding Women of Wilmington, Delaware, for her volunteer work, Lynn continues to work in the fields of arts and education. She has served as Chair of the Board of the National Museum of Wildlife Art, located in Jackson, Wyoming. Taking her love of art and storytelling, she created five award winning children’s books. Current activities include helping on a board to build a K-12 private school in Jackson, Wyoming; a trustee of the National Museum of Wildlife Art; serving as the first elected woman Board Chair of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; collecting art; enjoying her 15 grandchildren; and traveling with her husband.
Martha Handler
President, Wolf Conservation Center
New York, New York
Martha Handler spent her early career working as an environmental consultant to the EPA, DOE and numerous private businesses in Washington, DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1999, she and her family relocated to NY where she joined the board of the Wolf Conservation Center located in South Salem, New York. She is currently Board President and is focused on wolf education and reintroduction. In addition, she is a volunteer at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a 900-women, maximum security prison. Martha splits her time between New York City and Westchester and immensely enjoys going on "off the grid" adventures.
Liliane A. Haub
Philanthropist
Greenwich, Connecticut
Liliane A. Haub was born in Switzerland, raised in Austria and has been living in the U.S. since 1989. She serves on several boards: Georgetown University, College Board of Advisors to the Dean of College of Arts and Sciences; Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming; and is a Member of the Advisory Board of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Together with her husband, Christian, Liliane served as co-chair of the campaign cabinet of Fast Forward, a subsidiary of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. An avid runner, she finished the NYC marathon several times to raise awareness and funds for the MS Society, and is still very active with the local chapter. She is also on the board of the Elizabeth Haub Foundation for Environmental Law and Diplomacy, USA and Canada, which was founded by the Haub family, who is engaged in its fifth generation of retail business and investments. Since 2015, Liliane has served on the board of American Prairie Reserve, an organization that is creating the largest nature reserve in the continental United States. Liliane has an extensive background and training in art. A passionate art collector of Contemporary and American Western Art, she is a member of the board at the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington state. Liliane and Christian reside in Greenwich, CT, and they have four children. Christian and Liliane are the co-chairs of the Parents Leadership Council at Boston College. They love spending time at their family ranch in Wyoming and are passionate about outdoor activities and open space.
Karen Isaac
Community Volunteer
Larchmont, New York
A Larchmont, New York resident since 1986, Karen, is a former PR professional (corporate, consulting and agency), community volunteer and mother of four. Karen has had leadership positions in numerous civic, community, performing arts, religious, educational and athletic activities. Board positions have included: the Emelin Theatre of Performing Arts, Larchmont Avenue Presbyterian Church, Junior League of Westchester on the Sound and Larchmont Temple Religious School Board. Golf, family and friends are her particular passions.
Gene Jones
Dallas Civic and Philanthropic Leader
Dallas, Texas
One of Texas’ most influential supporters of the arts, Gene Jones’ Dallas Cowboys Art Collection at AT&T Stadium has been shared with millions of visitors. Housing over 50 museum quality pieces from an international array of artists, it is the focal point for several youth art education programs. In a lifetime dedicated to helping others, Gene has contributed to her community by serving as co-chair of the executive board for the Meadows School for the Arts at Southern Methodist University. She additionally supports artistic efforts in North Texas with membership on the Board of Directors for the AT&T Center for Performing Arts and the Dallas Museum of Art Board of Trustees. Her more than two-decade association with the Salvation Army has included membership into the William Booth Society as well as service on the Army’s National Advisory Board. A member of the Texas Cultural Trust Board, she received the organization’s Individual Art Patron Award in 2013.
Elizabeth Baker Keffer
Managing Director and Chief Network Officer, BDT & Company
Chicago, Illinois
Elizabeth Baker Keffer is a Managing Director and Chief Network Officer of BDT & Company. Prior to joining BDT, Elizabeth was President of AtlanticLIVE, the events division of The Atlantic, where she also was Publisher from 2001 to 2007. Prior to joining Atlantic Media, Elizabeth served as EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at the Advisory Board Company and Corporate Executive Board. Elizabeth is a board member of Research!America and Ford’s Theatre, and a member of the National Jury for the American Prairie Reserve’s Ken Burns American Heritage Prize. Elizabeth received a BA in English and minor concentration in Human Biology from Brown University.
Kate Kelly
Author and Historian
Los Angeles, California
Kate Kelly is a writer and publisher of America Comes Alive, a website dedicated to telling little-known stories of America’s past. The site is visited by more than a half-million readers annually. She is author of many books, including Election Day: An American Holiday, An American History as well as a six-volume history of medicine for the college market. About 30 of her other works were collaborations with doctors and business people. She has been an instructor at The New School, NYC, and Osher Institute, UCLA. She is currently on the Board of Trustees of the Civil War Trust. Her former board service includes the national board of the SLE Lupus Foundation, Lupus LA, the Westchester County Historical Society, and the Friends of Smith College Libraries. She was a committee member of the Wildlife Health Sciences Committee, NY Zoological Society. Before moving to L.A, she and her husband were long-time residents of Larchmont, NY. They have three grown daughters.
Gary Knell
CEO, National Geographic Partners
District of Columbia
Gary E. Knell is the CEO of National Geographic Partners, National Geographic Society’s for-profit arm that oversees all of National Geographic’s storytelling assets, including television, print and digital, and ancillary operations, which include travel expeditions. A member of National Geographic Society’s Board of Trustees since April 2013, Knell also has served on the Board of Governors of the National Geographic Education Foundation since November 2003. Additionally, Knell is a member of the board of the National Museum of Natural History. Prior to his role at the Society, Knell served as president and CEO of National Public Radio from 2011 to 2013.
His career in media spans more than three decades, including 22 years at Sesame Workshop, where he served as president and CEO for 12 years. Prior to Sesame Workshop, Knell was managing director of Manager Media International, a multimedia publishing company based in Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Singapore. He also served as senior vice president at WNET/Channel 13 in New York, was counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary and Governmental Affairs Committees in Washington, D.C., and worked in the California State Legislature and Governor’s Office. Knell is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm, and Common Sense Media. He is an adviser to the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California and to the Military Child Education Coalition.
Knell has a B.A. in political science from UCLA, where he was editorial director of the UCLA Daily Bruin and a stringer for the Associated Press. He has a J.D. from Loyola University of Los Angeles, where he was recently named a Top 50 Alumni. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Kenyon College in Ohio, Mercy College in New York, and Franklin University in Switzerland. He has been a commencement speaker at the University of Redlands, UCLA, the University of Texas–Austin, and Johns Hopkins University.
Jean Lee
Nonprofit Fundraiser
Mamaroneck, New York
Jean Lee has been dedicated to building private-public partnerships since graduating from Cornell University and Columbia University. In the past she has worked with various corporations, multi-lateral organizations, governments and NGOs in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. After four years serving as president of an international advisory council at The Tokyo Foundation where she led the development of a scholarship program supporting 69 institutions across 45 countries, Jean’s love for the power and impact of philanthropy turned into a professional career. She has leveraged her experience building business and strategic partnerships in various sectors to help nonprofit organizations. Most recently she led the GENYOUth foundation, created by the National Football League and National Dairy Council, to support the nation’s largest in-school health and wellness program. During her leisure time, she greatly enjoys the theater, golfing, skiing, tennis, shooting, and fly-fishing with her family. Annually her family shares the special experience of a back-country outfitting trip in Montana. Jean serves on the Young Partners Board at The Public Theater, which produced the smash hits A Chorus Line and Hamilton. She is a proud mother and step-mother of two children.
Jacqueline B. Mars
Retired Vice President, Mars, Inc.
The Plains, Virginia
Mrs. Mars is the owner of a working farm that specializes in organic farming and equine training and breeding. David and Karen O’Connor, Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalists in the sport of three-day eventing, have trained and ridden her competition horses at her two locations in The Plains, Virginia, and Ocala, Florida. Mrs. Mars is the retired Vice President of Mars, Inc., where she was responsible for development of new food products and their marketing strategy. She is a strong supporter of conservation groups concerning land use and the environment as well as an advocate and supporter of women’s education and their employment in the business community. Since 2014, Mrs. Mars has served on the board of American Prairie Reserve, an organization that is creating the largest nature reserve in the continental United States. A passionate promoter of the arts, she is Chairman of the Washington National Opera, a member of the board of trustees of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, as well as Vice Chairman of the National Sporting Library & Museum.
Susan Matelich
Philanthropist
Larchmont, New York
Susan is a philanthropist and devoted volunteer at many organizations. She is a regular, active crew-member and Board Treasurer of her local Volunteer Ambulance Corps and she holds New York State, National Registry EMT and Wilderness EMT certifications. Susan and her husband, George, are also dedicated to aiding first-generation college and graduate students, and have established undergraduate scholarships at the University of Puget Sound and Vanderbilt University, as well as an important fund for fellowships at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Since 2008, Susan has served on the board of American Prairie Reserve, a privately funded organization working to build America’s largest grassland public park. In the fall of 2015, Susan joined the Board of Trustees of the New York Botanical Garden and currently serves on their Budget Committee. Born in Alberta, Canada, Susan moved to New York and earned a BS in Marketing, cum laude, from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and enjoyed a successful 15-year career as a commercial fashion model and spokesperson. Susan and George currently reside in Larchmont, New York, when they are not fly-fishing with their three adult children in Montana.
Douglas McKeige
Managing Director, GMF Capital
Mamaroneck, New York
Doug McKeige lives in Mamaroneck New York with his wife Marie. They have four children Natalie, Olivia, Ian and William ranging in age between 19 and 32. Doug grew up in Port Washington, NY. He went to college at Tufts University and law school at Tulane Law School. He practiced law for 20 years as a securities law litigator first at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison and then for the bulk of his law career at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, LLP where he was a Managing Partner. During the past ten years, he has worked in the investment arena and is now a Managing Director at GMF Capital, a commercial real estate investment firm, based in New York City. Doug is an avid sailor and also enjoys hiking and biking in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. He also enjoys reading about American History.
Karen Mehra
Greenwich, Connecticut
Jeff Miller
President, JAMM Ventures
Diablo, California
Jeff Miller is President of JAMM Ventures, a business consulting company. Prior to establishing his firm, Jeff spent most of his career in operating companies. He was CEO of Documentum, Inc. (DCTM), an enterprise document management software company, from 1993 to 2001, and Chairman of the Board from 1999 to 2003, growing it from 15 employees into a publically traded NASDAQ company with 1,200 employees and revenues over $200 million. Jeff has more than 40 years of high tech experience, in semiconductors, hardware, and software companies, having spent the early years of his career at Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, and holding senior marketing and general management executive positions at Adaptec and Cadence Design Systems. From 2002 through 2006, Jeff was a venture partner with Redpoint Ventures, focused on mentoring CEOs of several Redpoint companies, particularly those in the enterprise and infrastructure software markets. Jeff has served on the Board of Directors of a number of high technology companies. He currently serves on the Board of one public company, ServiceNow (SaaS for IT; NOW NYSE). Jeff also serves on four philanthropic Boards, The American Prairie Reserve; the Golden State Warriors Community Foundation (he is a minority owner of the GS Warriors); and two connected with Santa Clara University, the Board of Trustees and the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, where he Chairs the Advisory Board. Jeff holds a Masters of Business Administration (1976) and a Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (1973) from Santa Clara University.
Eric Motley, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President & Corporate Secretary, The Aspen Institute
District of Columbia
Eric L. Motley, Ph.D., is an executive vice president at the Aspen Institute, responsible for Institutional Advancement and governance. Prior to joining the Aspen Institute, he served as the Director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of International Visitors within the bureau of Public Diplomacy. In 2003, he became Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Presidential Personnel, where he managed the appointment process in the White House for over 1,200 presidentially-appointed advisory board and commission positions. Eric serves on the Board of Directors of Barry-Wehmiller Companies, the Library Cabinet for the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s National Council, The John F. Kennedy Centennial Memorial Task Force, National Advisory Board of Honored, Young Concert Artists, Advisory Board of Planet Word Museum, Board of Overseers of Samford University and is a former member of the Chapter Board of the Washington National Cathedral. Eric earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Samford University. As a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, he earned a Master of Letters in International Relations and a Ph.D. as the John Steven Watson Scholar.
Nancy Mueller
Retired Founder/President, Nancy's Specialty Foods
Palo Alto, California
Nancy Mueller has a love of marine and terrestrial eco-systems derived from world-wide experiences. Growing up in Latham, NY, she majored in biology and then chemistry at Russell Sage College in Troy, NY. Upon graduation, she followed her future husband, a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) graduate, to Palo Alto, CA, where Glenn Mueller completed a Stanford MBA and she worked for Syntex Corporation in pharmaceutical chemistry. Two children later and with a venture capital husband, Nancy started her own business, Nancy’s Specialty Foods, parlaying Nancy’s Quiche, both appetizers and entrees, to national distribution through retail and club store venues. She sold the business after 22 years of exciting entrepreneurism in 1999. Seeking new experiences, and having spent quality family time aboard sailing and power yachts for many years, she planned to fulfill a dream. She hired a team: designer, naval architect and builder, Feadship, and had the 42.5 m Super-yacht, M/Y Andiamo, built for round the world cruising and diving. Ten years later, after touring hundreds of remote islands and countries with friends and family, she sold the vessel and returned to a more normal life. Since 2014, Nancy has served on the board of American Prairie Reserve, an organization that is creating the largest nature reserve in the continental United States. She is also on the Boards of RPI, Waimea Ocean Film Festival in Hawaii, and the San Francisco Opera.
Susan Myers
Philanthropist
Atherton, California
Susan has been a board member of American Prairie Reserve along with her husband Gib since 2002. The opportunity to assemble a huge prairie ecosystem full of wildlife in the 21st century is very compelling and exciting to her. Every time she visits the prairie she enjoys being on the landscape and going to find the bison herd. She and Gib would love to see a herd of 10,000 bison in their lifetime. Susan has an interest in food sustainability and has been a member of a food investor group through the Philanthropy Workshop in San Francisco. She is also involved with FoodCorps a national nonprofit that connects kids to healthy food in schools. The intersecting issues of food, health, wellness and social justice are important ones to her. Susan is a member of Impact Partners, a social interest film fund that invests primarily in documentaries. IP has supported a number of films at the Sundance Film Festival. She is also on the advisory board of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation.
In the past, she has served on an independent school board, Crystal Springs Uplands School and the Peninsula Bridge, an educational summer experience for underprivileged students. Susan has three children and eight grandchildren. She enjoys travel, golf, skiing, bridge, reading and spending time with her family. Susan holds a BA in German Studies from Stanford University.
Nancy A. Nasher
President and Owner, NorthPark Center
Dallas, Texas
Nancy A. Nasher is President and CEO of NorthPark Development Company and co-owner with her husband, David J. Haemisegger, of NorthPark Center, Dallas’ premier shopping destination and one of the top five performing shopping centers in the United States. For more than 40 years, Nancy and David have expanded and elevated the iconic retail establishment to include the very best in retail, art, architecture, and landscaping, creating a shopping experience unlike anything else in the world. With more than 26 million visitors each year, NorthPark is the number one tourist attraction in North Texas and the number two in the state of Texas. A graduate of The Hockaday School, Princeton University and Duke University School of Law, Nancy has dedicated her professional and personal life to the betterment of Dallas as a real estate leader and as one of the city’s greatest advocates for the arts. Nancy was instrumental in the creation of the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. She is involved with numerous cultural and educational organizations, and serves on multiple non-profit boards, both locally and nationally. Nancy resides in Dallas with her husband, David, and together have three children: Sarah, David and Isabelle.
Natalie Orfalea
Founder and President, Natalie Orfalea Foundation
Santa Barbara, California
For 15 years, Natalie Orfalea served as Co-Founder and Chair of the Orfalea Fund and Orfalea Family Foundation providing vision, inspiration, and strategy behind the foundations’ initiatives in early childhood education, food system reform, youth development, education, and disaster readiness.
With the sunset of the Orfalea Fund in December 2015, she launched the Natalie Orfalea Foundation in 2016 to pursue her donor activist interests in global and community health, conservation, water, climate change, education, leadership development, women and girls’ issues, social justice, and documentary films.
Following a successful career at Xerox Corporation, Natalie ran an independent product development firm, and raised two sons. As an executive coach and businessperson, she combines her communication skills, entrepreneurial experience and creative thinking with her collaborative approach to solving complex social issues. In addition to her foundation work, she currently serves on the Board of One Heart World-Wide, and is a member of the Giving Pledge, Women Moving Millions, Impact Partners, and the University of California Santa Barbara’s Council for Arts & Lectures. Natalie is a longtime supporter of TED, and the Sundance Institute. She formerly served on the boards of Direct Relief, All Kinds of Minds, and Montana Yellowstone Expeditions. Natalie also volunteers as a yoga teacher to incarcerated women through Prison Yoga Santa Barbara.
Roland Parrish
President, CEO/Owner of Parrish Restaurants, Ltd.
Dallas, Texas
President, CEO/Owner of Parrish Restaurants, Ltd, which owns 23 McDonald’s in North Texas. The company consistently makes Black Enterprise Magazine’s BE 100 as one of the Top 100 Black Owned Businesses in the U.S. He also is the immediate Past Chairman/CEO of the National Black McDonald’s Owner/Operators Association.
Parrish earned his Bachelor’s and MBA at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Business. A scholar/athlete, he lettered four years, served as team captain, was a two time MVP for the Purdue track and field team while making the Dean’s List 7 out of 8 semesters.
His $2M gift supported renovations of the former Management and Economics Library at Purdue and was renamed the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics. His gift of philanthropy led to the Rev. John and Marie Parrish (parents) Medical Clinic in Fort Portal, Uganda which opened in 2016.
Roland and his wife Jewel have been married 40 years, and have two sons and daughter– Rowland (UNT-BA 2002), Wesley (CAI-BA 2013), and Jade (Purdue BS 2012). His hobbies include running, biking, reading, playing musical instruments and collecting automobiles.
Gerald Parsky
Chairman, Aurora Capital Group
Rancho Santa Fe, California
Gerald Parsky is the Chairman of Aurora Capital Group, a private investment firm. Previously, Mr. Parsky served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 1974-1977. For the next 14 years, Mr. Parsky was affiliated with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he was a Senior Partner and member of the Executive and Management Committees. In 1991, Mr. Parsky founded Aurora Capital Group. Past activities include: Regent, University of California; Trustee, Princeton University. Present activities include: Trustee, The RAND Corporation; Trustee, George Bush Presidential Library Foundation; Trustee, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation; Board of Directors, The Irvine Company. Mr. Parsky is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia Law School.
David Pfeil
President, Pfeil Holdings Corporation; President, The Pfeil Foundation
Plano, Texas
David Pfeil is President of both Pfeil Holdings Corporation, the family’s investment company, and The Pfeil Foundation. In 1989, Pfeil founded a healthcare company that he sold in 2013. From 1983-1989 Pfeil was a consulting partner with Ernst & Young. Pfeil is on the executive committee of BSA’s Circle Ten and is Chairman of its STEM Committee. Pfeil is on the Board of The Better Angel’s Society, the organization dedicated to supporting filmmakers documenting America’s history. Pfeil supports the Bush Presidential Institute, with special interest in the Military Services and Women’s Initiatives. He is on the Finance Committee of Children’s Health and the Board of Children’s Medical Center of Plano. Pfeil and his wife, Kelly, are the Co-Chairs of the American Heart Association’s 2017 Cote du Coeur heart ball, a $4,000,000 black tie fundraiser. His hobbies include golf and ranching where he raises bison, elk, and whitetail deer.
William R. Price III
Bellevue, Washington
Bill Price was raised in Baltimore and received a BA from Dartmouth. He spent five years as a Naval Officer and received an MBA from Stanford. Price served as the Senior Engagement Manager of McKinsey and Company in San Francisco and Stockholm, a COO at Automated Call Processing Corp (ACP), and a Vice President of MCI Call Center Services. Price was Amazon’s first Global Vice President of Customer Service. He was the lead co-author of The Best Service is No Service and Your Customer Rules! He founded and serves as President of Driva Solutions, a customer service consultancy. Price also currently is an Adjunct Professor at University of Washington’s Michael G Foster School of Business and is a Partner at Antuit.
Greg Rohan
President and Partner, Heritage Auctions
Dallas, Texas
Greg Rohan is President of, and a partner in, Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, the 3rd largest auction house in the world. His responsibilities include overseeing the firm’s New York office. Greg has been involved with many of the rarest items and most important collections handled by the firm. He has provided expert testimony for the United States Attorney and the Federal Trade Commission, and has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Anderson Cooper, ABC, and CBS. He works with collectors, consignors, and their advisors in every one of Heritage’s 40 categories. The clients he has worked with have included the families of actor John Wayne and publisher Malcolm Forbes, Random House Publishing, Time-Warner, Frito-Lay, Stanford University, Columbia University, and The Smithsonian Institution. Greg is a past Chairman of Young Presidents’ Organization for North Texas, and is a current member of WPO in Dallas and New York. He is an active supporter of the arts, is an advisor to the board at Austin College, and is a member of the Tate Lecture Board of Directors at Southern Methodist University. He co-authored the award-winning “Collectors Estate Handbook,” and he served two terms on the Advisory Board at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He and his wife, Lysa, divide their time between homes in Dallas and New York.
Jill Sideman
Tiburon, California
Heather Sturgess
Santa Barbara, California
As a conservationist, Heather has served on the board of the Jane Goodall Institute and is currently involved with Wildlife Conservation Network, African People and Wildlife, Ruaha Carnivore Project, Big Life, Wild Aid and Africa Schools of Kenya.
She splits her time between Santa Barbara, California serving as an Ambassador with UCSB Arts and Lectures; Nelson and Golden Bay, New Zealand supporting two food banks and women's shelters with organic lamb and beef; and wildlife organizations in Jackson, Wyoming.
Heather loves traveling especially to visit the organizations with which she is involved in Africa, being with her beloved poodle and cat, riding her horses,and spending time with her husband, Tom.
Clara Wu Tsai
President, Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation
La Jolla, California
Clara Wu Tsai is Executive Director of the Clara and Joe Tsai Foundation. She is an international strategy advisor to Taobao, the Chinese online shopping website, and was previously general manager of Hong Kong operations for Taobao and a vice president at American Express. Clara serves on the international council of advisors of the National Geographic Society and is a trustee of Lincoln Center. At Stanford University, Clara served on the presidential ChEM-H/Neuro Task Force and is on the Dean of Research’s Advisory Council for Bio-X, ChEM-H, and the Neurosciences Institute.
Winifred Warner
Executive Coach
Dallas, Texas
Winifred Warner is an executive coach who draws upon her 25-year career at IBM to help her clients find the most efficient path to their career and personal goals. She is appreciated for her compassion, humor, intelligence, and honesty. Ms. Warner is also a photographer who is forever awed by the majesty of her subjects, be they wildlife, people, landscapes and cityscapes. She has travelled extensively throughout the world, including photography expeditions to Cuba, Croatia, and Zimbabwe. Born and raised in southern California, Ms. Warner worked and lived in the Greater Los Angeles area until 1996. She currently resides in Dallas, TX, and Bozeman, MT, with her husband, Tim. Warner is a graduate of UC, Berkeley and CoachU. She is a member of the International Association of Coaches, the International Coach Federation, former member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and an Alumna of Leadership Texas.
Lynda Webster
Founder and Chairman, The Webster Group
District of Columbia
Following 15 years in the luxury hotel business, Ms. Webster founded The Webster Group, initially to offer fundraising and event production to non-profit organizations. Twenty plus years later, the event design and production firm has gone global, planning and producing memorial dedications, commissioning ceremonies, major stage productions, corporate conferences, board meetings, galas and more. A significant amount of TWG work is now with the US Government.
Ms. Webster earned a Master of International Management degree from the American Graduate School of International Management, Glendale, AZ, a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX and a Bachelor of Arts from Stephens College, Columbia, MO. She has certificates of study from three Spanish universities.
Over the years, Ms. Webster has worked on numerous nonprofit committees, serving as chairman of American Forests, the National Symphony Cadence Organization, the Ronald Reagan Center of Emergency Management, and as regional co-chair of Mayo Clinic’s first capital campaign. She also chaired the capital campaign effort for the construction of the Salvation Army’s Turning Point Center in Washington, DC, serving homeless women and children.
Ms. Webster is married to Judge William H. Webster and they share homes in Washington, DC and Washington, VA with a golden retriever, three horses and a tabby cat.